Marcus J. Hopkins, here, telling every performer going to Dayton to break a leg (and not a rifle), put it all out on the floor, and most importantly, have fun with your shows.

The week we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived. The 2019 WGI Guard World Championships are upon us and a record number of units will converge upon Dayton, OH, to see who are the best guards in all the land. Literal blood, sweat, and tears poured into thousands of collective hours of rehearsals, competitions, and travel time will finally be worth it for those groups brave enough to take their productions to Dayton to see which groups will make it to finals competition on Friday and Saturday.

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This year, 366 guards will compete in preliminary competition, including 150 Scholastic A, 63 Independent A, 51 Scholastic Open, 47 Independent Open, 24 Scholastic World, and 31 Independent World units, of which only 95 of those will remain when finals competitions commence.

With WGI's seeding/schedule system, many factors come into play during the time between the final seedings coming out and actually making it into semifinals: in which round you compete; how early/late in your round you perform; whether or not you have a good run. 

A combination of skill, consistency, and pure luck can make the difference between advancing and ending your trip to Dayton early.

Scholastic A

This year, only 20 SA and 15 IA groups will advance to finals, down from 25 and 20, respectively, in 2018. This means that competition to make it into one of these finals spots is tighter than ever.

In a first for WGI, A Class prelims will be held on Wednesday (April 3) at the UD Arena (Scholastic A Rounds 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11), the Nutter Center (Scholastic A Rounds 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12), and the Cintas Center (Independent A). 

Scholastic A competition begins at 9:30 AM ET for both sites, and Independent A competition begins at 10:00 AM ET.

At The Top

According to WGI's standings, Scholastic A Class competition looks to be very tight, with only a handful of tenths or even hundredths between placements. Currently in first is East Lincoln HS with a seeded score of 91.795, followed closely Lockport Township HS at 91.770.

In third, we have Rancho Cucamonga HS with a seeded score of 91.300, not so far behind Lockport that they don’t have a chance to pass them.

Fight For Finals

The groups fighting to remain in or make it into Scholastic A's finals include Grassfield HS (18th), Bethel HS (19th), Westerville North HS (20th), Ada HS (21st), Pope HS (22nd), Sebastian River HS (23rd), Lincoln-Way Community HS (24th), and Spring-Ford Area HS (25th).

A lot of things can change between the announcement of prelims rounds and actually making it into semis.

Independent A

At The Top

Over at the Cintas Center, the competition in Independent A is a little less densely packed, in terms of seed scoring. The spread between the current first place contender, Icon Winterguard (88.895) and the second place Malachi Independent A (87.700) is more than a point behind. Currently in third is St. Ann’s (87.235).

Looking solely at score spreads (with no judgments on the quality of their shows), there’s a closer battle between second and third in IA, than there is between first and second. That said, anything can happen between 10:00 AM and 8:58 PM on Wednesday, so there’s no sure thing one way or the other.

Fight For Finals 

Fighting to round out the Top 15 are 3^rd Legend (13th), Anesidora (14th), Metanoia Winter Guard (15th), Gates Chili Independent Winter Guard (16th), Westshoremen (17th), SSJC – South Shore Jr. Cadets (18th), Reverie A (19th), and National Avenue (20th). 

All of these programs are within a two-point spread (83.475 – 81.640), so, again, it will all come down to the rounds, performance order, and luck.

Scholastic Open

At The Top

Scholastic Open Class Prelims commence on Thursday, April 4th at the BB&T Arena at 10:00 AM ET, and while the competition isn’t as close as in Scholastic A, the top three contenders are all within two points of each other, so anything could happen. Arvin HS currently sits in first with a seeded score of 91.500 after winning the West Power Regional, last weekend, followed by Fishers HS with 90.600, which won the Mid-East Power Regional, last weekend as well. Drippings Springs HS rounds out third with a seeded score of 89.850 after winning the Southwest Power Regional, two weekends ago.

All three of these programs are impressive, with programs that are innovative, challenging, and engaging. That said, McNeil HS is nipping on Dripping Springs’ heels with their seed score of 89.750 followed closely by Oviedo HS at 89.450. So, at this point, the battle for third is objectively tighter.

Independent Open

At The Top

Over at the Cintas Center on Thursday, competition for the Top 15 is going to be fierce in Independent Open.

In the top three slots, we currently have George Mason University Winterguard (92.050), FIU Winterguard (91.500), and ORIGINS (90.550). Close behind ORIGINS, however, is Paramount Open Winterguard (90.150), whose show, “Such Great Heights,” is doing of innovative things with set design and optical illusions. The battle for the third medal looks to be tight.

Fight For Finals

Where things heat up is in the battle to remain in and break into the Top 15. 14th to 19th places are within 0.700 points of each other, including Tampa Independent (14th), Top Hats (15th), Q (16th), JMU Nuance Open and Arete Winterguard (17th), and Independence Winter Guard (19th).

Scholastic World

At The Top

Scholastic World Prelims start on Thursday, April 4th at 10:00 AM at UD Arena. The big collisions, here, are between Center Grove HS and West Broward HS for second place with respective seeded scores of 92.550 and 92.250. For the finals threshhold, it's between Northview HS and Arcadia HS pushing to remain in the Top 15.

West Broward nudged Carmel HS (91.450) out of third after their win in last weekend’s Southeast Power Regional in Orlando, FL. With West Broward being so close in seed score to Center Grove, it's entirely possible that West Broward and Center Grove could be duking it out for 2nd Place.

That said, Carmel could easily stage a comeback with their program “A Lot of Strength Left.” West Broward’s “Midnight Radio” is high risk: it is fast-paced, super demanding in terms of the drill, equipment work, and movement, and heavily relies upon the hopeful consistency of every performer to pull off all of the tricks within their work. Carmel, on the other hand, takes fewer risks in terms of equipment tricks, meaning there's a higher change of consistency from performance to performance. It doesn't mean that either show is "better;" just that the content is different and requires a different set of skills.

Fight For Finals

Another place where things really heat up, competitively, is in the fight to remain in or break into 15th place. Northview and Arcadia’s seeded scores are two-tenths apart, leaving Arcadia right on the cusp of getting back into finals for the first time since 2017. 

Northview’s program is quirky and cute, capitalizing upon the use of forced perspective on their blue and black floor and pink-candy-colored doll costumes that are at once frightening, yet also charming. 

Arcadia’s program, “Manifesto,” by contrast, is a much more message-oriented show that talks about the troubles of growing up in the Millennial generation. While there’s a bit more gravitas to Arcadia’s theme, the two guards are pretty evenly matched, in terms of skill level, demand, and execution.

Independent World

At The Top

Independent World Prelims begins on April 4th at 2:30 PM ET at UD Arena immediately after Scholastic World competition ends. Pride of Cincinnati currently leads the pack in first place with a seeded score of 94.950.

The point spread between second and fifth place, however, is JUST 1.05 points, and includes some major powerhouses—Diamante (93.850), Paramount (93.550), Etude (92.850), and Imbue (92.800). 

With scores this close, it’s really anybody’s game, and each of these guards have shows that are innovative, well-designed, and amazingly performed, so any one of these guards could easily wind up medaling.

Fight For Finals

As with Scholastic World, the fight to remain in and break into 15th place is going to be tough, with places 15-17 all being within one point, including a tie between Lexis (17th) and Fusion Winter Guard (17th) with a score of 84.800. 

Relentless currently sits in 15th Place with seeded score of 85.800, followed by Cypress Independent with a score of 85.550.

No matter what happens in Dayton, you can be sure that FloMarching will be there to cover all the action from Day 1 with daily recaps of all the action and Live Blogs from all three Finals events on Friday and Saturday.